A few keystrokes are all it takes.
All of a sudden, your most private information is in the hands of criminals. Your most personal information, banking details, social security numbers, your children’s information.
Already, our digital over-dependence means that our risk is greater than ever before with new attacks surfacing all the time. Just in case you think hackers can’t get to you, it’s already happened. They’ve already been in your computer, accessing your most vital information, as we’ve said many times.
Even Yahoo Finance just said it.
“The answer is yes, you’ve been hacked,” NYU Tandon School of Engineering professor Justin Cappos told Yahoo Finance. “Your data, and everyone else’s, is probably out there from one data breach or another.”
In one of the biggest data breaches in history, more than 100 million Capital One customer accounts and credit card applications were once hacked. In fact, according to CNN, Paige Thompson is accused of breaking into the company’s server and accessing 140,000 social security numbers, a million Canadian insurance numbers, and 80,000 bank account numbers.
In 2020, hackers accessed data for 2.5 million customers of the Drizly app.
In late August 2021, the U.S. State Department was hit with a cyberattack. In fact, according to Sam Curry, chief security officer at Cybereason, as quoted by Infosecurity-Magazine.com, “The recent cyber-attack against the U.S. State Department is a reminder that anyone and everyone can be hit and will be hit.
Even major companies are getting hit. T-Mobile for example said hackers stole data of about 50 million people. Major companies, like Colonial Pipeline were taken down by a remote account with compromised VPN, or virtual private network password.
That’s not even 1% of the cyberattacks we’ve faced.
Yahoo Finance offers a few suggestions on how to protect your data here: https://finance.yahoo.com/news/sorry-america-youve-already-been-hacked-163253598.html. From an investing standpoint, cybersecurity stocks will continue to benefit from the threat, including:
Global X Cybersecurity ETF (BUG)
“The Global X Cybersecurity ETF (BUG) seeks to invest in companies that stand to potentially benefit from the increased adoption of cybersecurity technology, such as those whose principal business is in the development and management of security protocols preventing intrusion and attacks to systems, networks, applications, computers, and mobile devices,” says Global X.
Over the last several months, the BUG ETF exploded from about $24.50 to about $32. From here, we could see a potential test of $40, near-term, as the cyber situation intensifies. Some of the ETFs top holdings include Fortinet, Crowdstrike, Palo Alto, Okta Inc., and Rapid7 Inc. to name a few. What’s nice about an ETF is that it offers a good deal of exposure at less cost.
If I wanted to buy 100 shares of the BUG ETF, it would cost me $3,200 – and give me exposure to dozens of stocks. If I were to buy 100 shares of even 50% of the BUG ETF holdings, it would cost be tens of thousands of dollars.
iShares Cybersecurity and Tech ETF (IHAK)
According to iShares, “The iShares Cybersecurity and Tech ETF seeks to track the investment results of an index composed of developed and emerging market companies involved in cyber security and technology, including cyber security hardware, software, products, and services.”
IHAK ran from a low of about $38 to $45 over the last few months on the cyber threat. From here, it could see $60 a share. Some of its top holdings include Zscaler, Fortinet, Docusign Inc., Okta Inc. Proofpoint Inc., and Palo Alto.
FireEye (FEYE)
FEYE is one of the top cybersecurity stocks to consider.
At the moment, FireEye, Inc. provides intelligence-based cybersecurity solutions to prepare for, prevent, investigate, respond to, and remediate cyber-attacks in organizations. Its FireEye products include network, email, endpoint, and cloud security control products to detect and prevent threats; Dynamic Threat Intelligence Cloud, a bi-directional cloud-based service; Helix Security Operations Platform, a cloud-hosted security operations platform; Cloudvisory cloud security products; and customer support and maintenance services.
Plus, insiders are buying. Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue Officer, William Robbins bought $440k worth of the stock. In addition, over the last year, President and COO John Watters bought $469,000 worth at $18.75.